Vatican announces reform plan after months of investigation and speculation that bank will be closed The Vatican bank is to stay in business despite speculation Pope Francis might close down the scandal-plagued institution. After months of investigation and consultation, the Vatican announced the pope had opted for a reform plan instead. The bank, officially called the Institute for the Works of Religion...
Landmark research shows 29% of honeybee colonies died in winter of 2012-13, with summer losses also high at 9.7% A landmark study has revealed the UK is suffering one of the worst rates of honeybee colony deaths in Europe. In the cold winter of 2012-13, 29% of honeybee colonies in the UK died, with only Belgium suffering a higher rate of losses (34%) out of the 17 countries surveyed. By contrast, just...
New European arrest warrant issued for convicted mob leader a month after he won legal fight against extradition to Italy The convicted mafia boss Domenico Rancadore has been remanded in custody after appearing in court over his connections to the crime syndicate following his rearrest. Officers from the Metropolitan police's extradition unit detained the 65-year-old in Uxbridge, west London, on Friday...
Several minutes late after lunch with Italian president, the Queen presents pontiff with a hamper of British food The Queen has met Pope Francis for the first time at the Vatican, presenting the famously plain-living pontiff with a hamper of British food including honey, cox's apple juice and 12 eggs from the crown estate. Wearing lilac instead of the black that is usually considered de rigueur when...
Monarch and pontiff to meet in papal study with Falkland Islands and Anglican-Catholic relations potentially thorny issues The Queen will meet Pope Francis for the first time on Thursday in a private audience at the Vatican expected to lack the stiff formality of previous encounters between pontiffs and monarchs. As part of a day-long visit to Rome, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will be received...
Authorities release footage of 'tank' they say would have been deployed in St Mark's Square on eve of European elections Italian special operations units have arrested 24 secessionists who were allegedly planning a violent campaign aimed at gaining independence for the wealthy north-eastern Veneto region. Police said in a statement on Wednesday that the group had built an armoured vehicle that they...
Two works by French artists Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard thought to be worth millions were bought for equivalent of £300 In 1975 a worker at the car firm Fiat went along to an auction of lost property organised by the Italian national railway in Turin. He paid 45,000 lira (£32 equivalent to about £300 today) for two paintings that caught his eye one a still life and one an image of a...
M&S commits to stores in major French cities, plus Brussels and Amsterdam, and seeks sites in Italy and Spain Marks & Spencer is having a second go at exporting its uniquely British mix of clothing and crumpets to mainland Europe, pressing the button on expansion in France and scouting for sites in the big Italian and Spanish cities. The British retailer made a humiliating exit from the continent...
A new exhibition charts how postwar Italy transformed the world's perceptions of it, using its greatest export: style The word glamour originally meant magic or enchantment: to "cast a glamour" was to cast a spell to make something appear different from reality. And it is glamour in this sense what the author Virginia Postrel calls nonverbal rhetoric that is at the heart of the V&A's...
Boris Johnson's LBC phone-in - Summary Cable refused to apologise for Royal Mail flotation 1.22pm BST Labour's Tom Blenkinsop asks about the table on page 48 of the report (pdf). It's this one, showing how many of the "priority investors" sold their shares soon after flotation. "Priority investors" who became net sellers of shares in the first few weeks of trading are on the left,...
Website, smartphone app and Facebook page being set up for canonisation of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II The last time a Roman Catholic pontiff was made a saint, television news was in its infancy and the coverage from St Peter's Square was resolutely black, white and grainy. Sixty years on from the canonisation of Pope Pius X, two of his successors are to follow in his footsteps and the church...
Would-be swindlers were carrying a case of forged bearer bonds as they tried to enter the Vatican gates 'to meet cardinals' The papal gendarmerie and Italian police have foiled a massive potential fraud at the Vatican bank after two men stopped at the gates to the Vatican were found to be carrying a case containing large amounts of forged bearer bonds, Italian police say. Lt Col Davide Cardia of the...
Franciscan monks try to raise £75,000 on Kickstarter to fix room in Rome church where saint is said to have stayed Crowdfunding and medieval history have come together in Rome, with a group of Franciscan monks using the internet to raise funds to restore a dusty cell apparently used by St Francis of Assisi. Located in the Trastevere district, the church of San Francesco a Ripa looks much like any of...
On the 2,000th anniversary of the emperor's death work will finally start to reopen historic site to visitors He was Rome's first emperor, the founder of a world-dominating imperial dynasty, and a builder of roads and stunning temples who brought peace to a far-flung empire; a man so powerful the Roman senate named a month after him. Now, on the 2,000th anniversary of the death of the emperor Augustus,...
Civil service global roundup: Japan in 'bureaucratic paralysis' and gov comms professionals meet in Bosnia-Herzegovina The new premier Matteo Renzi's government has identified 5bn (£4.13bn) that can be cut from the Italian budget over the next eight months but it is working to a tight deadline and may not have time to consult labour unions, the Gazzetta del Sud Online reported . ...
As the V&A celebrates Italian fashion , we pick our favourites Who do you think should have made the list? Leave your comments below and you could feature in our alternative list next week...
In meeting at Vatican, US president proffers talks on poverty and inequality and a packet or two of carrot seeds On Thursday Pope Francis met a man who wields the kind of power and influence in his own country that many world leaders would envy. Before that, he found time to slot in the president of the United States. Or rather, that was the impression left by the Vatican's official bulletin, which...
Survey shows increase in the number of new poor in seven countries and challenges the official European Union discourse Far from being over Europe's economic crisis is getting worse with disturbing levels of poverty and deprivation being noted among children and youth, says a report compiled by the Catholic charity Caritas. The survey, conducted over the course of the past year, not only challenges...
US president praises pontiff before the two talk for nearly an hour on subjects thought to include poverty and inequality Barack Obama has met Pope Francis for the first time, telling him it is a "great honour" to be received by the 77-year-old pontiff at the Vatican. ...
Study finds crime network made billions of euros from drug trafficking, illegal rubbish disposal and other activities The 'Ndrangheta mafia from southern Italy made more money last year than Deutsche Bank and McDonald's put together with a turnover of 53bn (£44bn), a study has claimed. The study by the Demoskopika research institute detailed the international crime syndicate's sources of revenue,...